Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Configuring a Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router as an Wireless Access point.

Yes, you can do this. You will need to do the following:

1) Power down your entire system. Disconnect the WRT54G from all other devices, wait one minute, power up the WRT54G and allow it to fully boot, then reset the WRT54G to factory defaults. Power down the WRT54G.

2) Then connect one computer, by ethernet cable, to a LAN port on the WRT54G, then power up the WRT54G and computer, and make the following changes in the WRT54G:

a) set the "Local IP address" to 192.168.1.2 (this assumes that your primary router is set to 192.168.1.1 and you are not using 192.168.1.2 elsewhere in your network)

b) set the "DHCP server" to "disabled"

c) Save your settings. You may be disconnected from the router at this point. Do not worry about it.

d) Exit your browser and power down your entire system.

3) Next, wire any LAN port from your primary router to any LAN port on the WRT54G. Do not connect anything to the Internet port on the WRT54G.

4) Power up your system. It should work. Note that your primary router will control all router settings ( DHCP server, port forwarding, firewall, etc.). Your WRT54G will only control your wireless settings.

5) I assume your primary router is also wireless. If so, set the two routers as follows:

SSID: same in both routers (do not use "linksys" )
SSID broadcast: enabled in both
Encryption: same in both
Encryption key: same in both
Channel: set routers to different channels. Ideally routers should be 5 or more channels apart. Usually channels 1, 6, and 11 work best.


Thank you, toomanydonuts

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